At GE, Pilot of Engine Unit
Weathers Industry's Storm

When David Calhoun took over as chief executive of General Electric Co.'s aircraft-engines unit three years ago, he could hardly have predicted the storm of events that awaited him.

The economy that year, 2000, was already souring. Then the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings triggered a steep drop in air travel. Two of GE's biggest jet-engine clients, U.S. Airways and United Airlines, filed for bankruptcy-court protection, and others teetered...